2013 Subaru BRZ vs 2012 Mazda Miata: Featherweight Sports Car Faceoff

Can the new entry into the affordable sports car niche—the Subaru BRZ—beat the champion of the last two decades?

The much-hyped Subaru BRZ sports car promises to be feathery-light, quick off the line, and to handle better than just about any car this side of a Porsche Cayman—and do it all for around $25,000. In the sports car world, them's fightin' words. Because there's another car that not only fits that description but has been delivering sports car fans an overdose of fun for the past 20 years: the Mazda Miata.

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We thought it was time for a showdown. PM took both machines to the twisty roads deep in the Santa Monica Mountains and pressed them to their limits. Can the Subaru outgun the benchmark for affordable sports cars?

The Specs

Park these cars side by side and they don't look like natural rivals. The Miata is a classic convertible that looks to the past, aping the British roadster tradition of a half-century ago. The Subaru is about 10 inches longer, slightly wider, and has a modern sports car profile that appears to be rendered expressly for a starring role in Gran Turismo 6. It's also a four-seater, which is the big reason for its excess length.

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Under the hood the similarities emerge. Both cars use 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engines with six-speed manual transmissions and send power to the rear wheels. Neither of these featherweight sports cars tips the scale at more than 3000 pounds.

On the inside, the Subaru is much roomier. The BRZ has more headroom and comes with supportive STI-like seats and a nice fat steering wheel unmarred by stereo controls. The Miata is more like a snug-fitting T-shirt. But you sit a bit taller in the Miata, and that creates an exceptional view of the car's corners—and the road ahead.

If you need to haul a lot of stuff in your Miata, forget it. The Mazda has no storage space behind the rear seats and a 5.3-cubic-foot trunk that cannot accommodate a large suitcase. The Subaru has back seats, though don't bother trying to sit there unless you happen to be a leprechaun. However, the BRZ's 6.9-cubic-foot trunk can expand, with the rear seats folding down, to carry two golf bags or a full set of four racing tires.

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The Drive

Spec sheets and performance stats would lead you to believe the Miata and BRZ are two of a kind. But on the road, they have divergent personalities.

The Mazda comes to this battle at an apparent disadvantage: It's wearing the same armor it has had since this Miata generation debuted way back in 2005, while the Subaru has an all-new chassis with the latest tech. Yet around town, the Miata is an absolute pleasure. We folded that top back and let the sun shine in as we flicked the Miata's delicate shifter and zoomed its svelte sheet metal through traffic. The Miata is down on power compared with the Subaru, but it's only slightly slower, hitting 60 mph in just over 7 seconds. And its motor makes sweeter music than the coarse notes that come from the BRZ's flat four.

The Miata has a soft suspension that sucks up the worst potholes and roughest road surfaces. The BRZ is firm. It may be too firm, in fact—maybe not for true sports car nuts, but if our commute included lots of potholes and frost heaves, we'd probably grab the keys to the Miata. Still, the BRZ feels larger and more substantial. And though it won't give you open-air fun on the way to work, the BRZ is quieter and bigger, so it's the one you'd be inclined to choose for a 400-mile road trip.

The Miata's softer suspension works both for and against it on the canyon roads. Press the Miata deep into the corners and you'll get into a satisfying rhythm connecting those curves. The harmony between driver and chassis makes the Miata easy, agile, and fun to drive. But work the Miata harder, to the edge of its capabilities, and that balance goes away. The body rolls over, bobs around on its suspension, and becomes a little flustered. Although these two cars are nearly equal in a drag race, the Miata just cannot catch the BRZ when the road curves.

The Subaru's limits are simply much higher. Its firm suspension and robust chassis work together to create an animal in this terrain. The Subaru turns into a corner so aggressively and with such mastery that it almost makes driving it at anything less than its limit a little boring. This car is easy and predictable when driven hard, and if you get it all right, you feel like a hero. But if you do get into trouble, the stability control system responds with military-strike quickness. The system is so fast to correct the mistake and get back to the fun of driving that you won't mind leaving it engaged. The Miata's older stability control tech, meanwhile, lingers too long and feels lethargic by comparison.

But there are roads that perfectly fit the Miata. On the tightest and roughest routes we could find, the Miata turned out to be the most engaging. Its tidy dimensions and smooth-riding suspension made sawing back and forth along this ribbon of road more controlled and easier to manage. The Miata is the rough-road champ.

The Bottom Line

For a speedy cruise down a country road, the Miata is a blast. The Mazda's performance bandwidth is just fine for anything less than the limits of the chassis. Plus, unlike the Subaru, it comes as a convertible.

But it's clear after a week of hard driving that the new Subaru BRZ is the more capable handling machine—it'd be our choice for a day at the track. The BRZ is quicker in just about any situation, it provides serious feedback for the driver, and it can hold plenty of gear as well. If we have to pick one lightweight speed machine—it's the new Subaru BRZ.